Black Diamond Pictures, LLC an independent film production company is announcing the making its first feature film, titled Marked Man (www.markedman2012.com). The film is an action-thriller with the current cast of Hoji Fortuna, Jaiden Kaine, Celestine Rae and Gregory Sherad Martin and is directed by Chris Emmons. Principle photography for Marked Man will begin early this year; the film doesn’t have a release date.
Marked Man tells a story about Michael Jones (Martin) who is in search to find his psychopath brother Derek (Kaine) who is killing members of a secret government organization. The organization sends two of Derek’s former partners, Roman (Fortuna) and Victoria (Rae) to find Derek in order to protect the organization’s secret he has stumbled upon. This film touches some delicate subject matter like government conspiracy, political agendas and corruption, things that are the basis of the recent Occupy movements occurring around the country. The film was written before any of these events transpired but the filmmakers have still seen hesitance from companies to take on this project in reference to these storyline.
Marked Man was written by Gregory Sherad Martin who is also producing the film through his imprint, Black Diamond Pictures. Gregory is a former US Marine and his credits include acting, writing and directing. This is the first screenplay that he’s written with his other writing credits including articles published in an urban lifestyle magazine and blogging for an online website.
The director Chris Emmons is also a writer, composer and editor from Milwaukee, WI who studied filmmaking at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. His filmography includes independent films such as Beneath the Horizon and Shine Baby Shine in which he directed and edited.
Yueni Zander will take the helm as director of photography. Yueni was recently awarded the Emerging Cinematographer Award this year and is a member of the Local 600 union. Some of her filmography includes I am Legend and Burn After Reading.
The lead roles will be assumed by actors Hoji Fortuna, Jaiden Kaine, Celestine Rae and Gregory Sherad Martin.
Hoji Fortuna was born and raised in war-torn Angola, Africa and later moved to NYC in 2008. Hoji’s latest film, Viva Riva!, was a winner at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards and was an official selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and 2011 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). Hoji’s performance in “Viva Riva!” earned him Best Actor in Supporting Role at the 2011 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA).
Jaiden Kaine, the actor/model was the face of Calvin Klein in South Africa and was one of the first black male models to be featured in Italian Men’s Vogue magazine. Jaiden was the main host for Channel O Music television which would later become South African MTV.
Celestine Rae is an actress and writer with a background in classical dance. She trained under Terry Knickerbocker at the William Esper Studio Conservatory program. Some of her recent credits include Layon Gray’s Off Broadway productions All American Girls and Diary of a Catholic School Dropout and the Indiefest Award winning independent film, Consequences, a screenplay that she co-wrote.
Gregory Sherad Martin resumed his acting career, after leaving the military, in the nation’s capital in 2007 with the indie film, Preparation for a Murder. Gregory moved back to New York in 2009 where he studied the Meisner technique under teacher Wendy Ward for a year and a half. The training was instrumental in his development and showed with him landing more roles.
